BURGAS, Bulgaria, July 18 (Reuters) - Six people were killed in a bomb attack on a bus carrying Israeli tourists at a Bulgarian airport on Wednesday and Israel accused Tehran of carrying out the attack, promising a strong response to "Iranian terror".

Body parts were strewn across the ground and mangled metal hung from the bus's torn-back roof. Its windows were blown out and surrounded by scorch marks, as clouds of dense black smoke billowed above the airport.

"We heard a very strong blast. The bus was full with people and children. Flesh and blood everywhere," a Bulgarian witness told TV7 television. "I saw another bus catching fire from the one that exploded. It was complete chaos."

The tourists had arrived on a charter flight from Israel and were on the bus in the car park outside Burgas airport when the blast ripped through the double-decker. By late evening, the airport was still sealed off and closed as authorities tried to pin down exactly what had happened.

"We sat down and within a few seconds we heard a huge boom and we ran away. We managed to escape through a hole on the bus," Aviva Malka told Israeli Army Radio from the scene.

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov told Reuters by telephone after visiting the airport: "The explosion was caused by a bomb in the bus."

The Interior Ministry declined to comment on whether it might have been a suicide attack, as some witnesses had speculated, and said it was questioning people who had been close to the blast.

The blast comes on the 18th anniversary of a 1994 bomb attack on the headquarters of Argentina's main Jewish organisation by an Iranian-backed Hezbollah suicide bomber, which killed 85 people.

"All the signs lead to Iran. Only in the past few months we have seen Iranian attempts to attack Israelis in Thailand, India, Georgia, Kenya, Cyprus and other places," Netanyahu said in a statement.

"Eighteen years exactly after the blast at the Jewish community centre in Argentina, murderous Iranian terror continues to hit innocent people. This is an Iranian terror attack that is spreading throughout the entire world. Israel will react powerfully against Iranian terror," he said.

VULNERABLE TARGET

Israeli officials had previously said that Bulgaria, a popular holiday destination for Israeli tourists, was vulnerable to attack by Islamist militants who could infiltrate via Turkey.

The incident was not reported by Iranian media and there was no immediate Iranian reaction to the Israeli accusation.

Israeli diplomats have been targeted in several countries in recent months by bombers who Israel said struck on behalf of Iran.

Although Tehran has denied involvement, some analysts believe it is trying to avenge the assassinations of several scientists from its nuclear programme, which the Iranians have blamed on Israel and its Western allies.

Israel has threatened air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities if diplomatic efforts fail to rein in its programme. Israel and Western powers accuse Iran of working towards a nuclear bomb, but Tehran says its research is strictly for peaceful ends.

Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the bomb could have been stuck on the side of the bus - the way an attack on an Israeli embassy car in India was carried out in February.

"The Revolutionary Guard are behind the attack ... I don't want to say unequivocally, but they are behind it directly or indirectly," Lieberman told Channel 2 television, without elaborating on the Iranian military unit.

Bulgaria raised security at all airports, bus and railway stations after the explosion. Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova also boosted policing at public places linked to the Jewish community in Bulgaria's capital.

The blast damaged several other buses in the car park outside the airport at Burgas, where they were waiting to ferry tourists to resorts along the Black Sea coast. Stunned travellers hugged one another in shock at the carnage and passengers were kept away from the scene with a police cordon.

"COMPLETELY OUTRAGEOUS"

Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry said six people had been killed, including one who died in hopsital. Thirty-two people were in hospital, three of whom were in intensive care.

Israel said seven people had been killed. Bulgarian Police have declined to give the nationality of the dead. A TV station in Bulgaria said a Bulgarian may have been killed.

Israeli Rabbi Haim Tverdovich based in Burgas told Israeli Channel 2 some of the wounded had suffered severe burns.

U.S. President Barack Obama called the attack "completely outrageous". "The United States will stand with our allies, and provide whatever assistance is necessary to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of this attack," he said.

In a telephone call with his Israeli counterpart, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov vowed to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

Israel has sent security officials to help with the investigation and its military was sending two planes to Burgas, one with medical crews to provide assistance to the injured and fly them home and another with forensic experts. A third plane with medics from the emergency services was also on its way.

Burgas is Bulgaria's fourth largest city and lies on the Black Sea coast some 60 km (40 miles) from the border with Turkey. It is at the centre of a string of seaside resorts which are popular for their sunshine and low cost compared with many parts of the Mediterranean.

With a population of about 200,000, it is also an important industrial centre and has Bulgaria's sole oil refinery.

"Such a terrifying act on the territory of a sovereign country, member of the EU, is a provocation to the efforts of the democratic community for achieving world peace," said Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov.

The chief mufti of Bulgaria's Muslims, who account for about 10 percent of the Balkan country's 7.4 million population, also condemned the attack, as did the EU and British and French foreign ministers.

Burgas airport was closed after the incident and flights were redirected to the airport of Varna, police said. Tourists were stranded at the airport as it was checked for other explosive devices, Focus news agency reported.

Israel's flag carrier El Al cancelled its flight from Tel Aviv to Sofia that was due to leave at 1600 GMT a spokeswoman told Reuters. Nothing had been decided about Thursday's flights.

But I thought Iran was peace loving and did not want the bomb..isn't that what BEP and Frankie tell us?

And you were correcting cosmos of misreading posts or lying? You're a liar too. I never said the Iranian govt was peace "loving." I've admitted they use terrorism on Israeli targets. They have not started a war in over 200 years. Ya' know a conventional one. I said there was no evidence they were developing a nuclear bomb; that terrorism worked better for them. A bomb with their address on it, would only get them completely annihilated in return. Funny how there are more rational and saner voices in the Israeli military than the hysterial right-wing in America.

The Iranian people need to figure out how to get those nutjobs out of power. It's really unfortunate that the uprising a couple of years ago didn't flower. I wonder what, if anything, we were doing to help it along.

It's been posted here and linked, more than once, how US covert activity was involved in that uprising. These color revolutions in other places have the US and CIA behind them too. Remember, it's about remaking the world per a Bush State-of-the-Union address. This is done through various, allegedly non govt groups, funded with our money. This whole idea is what NeoConservativism is about. This is hawkish Progressivism gone global.

I think we were really, really hoping it succeeded, but keeping our fingers out of that pie. We do not have a really stellar track record influencing any of the major three traditional powers in the middle east, and at the time we were too busy being criticized for screwing up one of the other two for thirty years.

I've never figured out what we're doing, where, and why, in the middle east. We helped the rebels in Libya, but that was after Qadafi supposedly joined our side. We're obviously involved in Afghanistan and Iraq. I have no idea what we did in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, and some of the other Arab Spring places. And it seems like we did nothing in Iran and Syria, despite being told for years that they're part of the Axis of Evil and terrorism supporters. We may or may not have people on the ground in Somalia, despite the fact that that place couldn't organize a magnifying glass attack on an anthill.

I don't get it.

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My ancestors fought giant cave ermines so I could make this post.

Oh, I think it's retaliatory. But, I make a HUGE distinction between a bunch of Israeli civilian tourists and Iranian physicists working on a potential physics package which would be an existential threat to Israel.

I guess we differ on that, then, because I think it's pretty close.

I used to work in the defense industry back during the Cold War, and worked on highly classified projects. Would I have been an acceptable target for Soviet murder in your eyes?

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My ancestors fought giant cave ermines so I could make this post.

And you were correcting cosmos of misreading posts or lying? You're a liar too. I never said the Iranian govt was peace "loving." I've admitted they use terrorism on Israeli targets. They have not started a war in over 200 years. Ya' know a conventional one. I said there was no evidence they were developing a nuclear bomb; that terrorism worked better for them. A bomb with their address on it, would only get them completely annihilated in return. Funny how there are more rational and saner voices in the Israeli military than the hysterial right-wing in America.

Conventional? War is war woman. Palestinians, Arabs, etc have been at war with Israel since they got kicked out and conquered well over 2000 years ago.

people working on nuclear weapons for a country that has stated it would like to annihilate another country - are they really civilians? It's kind of a grey area.

It's not like they are truly civilians, like a bus load of tourists for example. They are more like a supply convoy or people working in a factory that makes tanks. They are the personnel associated with a legitimate military target. The only reason it's unique is that they were not physically present at the target when they were killed.

I think a simple nod from the POTUS would suffice. I hope we stay out of it. Too many family members screwed up over ME bullshit over the past 10 years.

Obama is mostly concerned with reelection. His policy on Iran is predicated on that.

I don't think he wants Israel to do anything, but he can't openly oppose them before the election. That is why Israel will move before November IMO.

Obama is no friend of Israel. They know they can't trust him. If it works, it works. If the powderkeg blows up, there is a chance Obama looks more incompetent than he already does in foreign policy, with the whole Mideast in flames, and that could help a candidate who would actually ally with Israel instead of their enemies. So much the better, in their opinion.

I've never figured out what we're doing, where, and why, in the middle east. We helped the rebels in Libya, but that was after Qadafi supposedly joined our side. We're obviously involved in Afghanistan and Iraq. I have no idea what we did in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, and some of the other Arab Spring places. And it seems like we did nothing in Iran and Syria, despite being told for years that they're part of the Axis of Evil and terrorism supporters. We may or may not have people on the ground in Somalia, despite the fact that that place couldn't organize a magnifying glass attack on an anthill.

I don't get it.

I don't get it either. We told Hosni Mubarak to step down even though he was one of our strongest Arab allies, but we stood by silently when Iran's people were protesting their anti-US leadership. If I had more confidence in the current administration, I'd tell myself that they must know what they're doing, but this seems to fit a disturbing pattern of treating our adversaries better than our friends.

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“The American people are tired of liars and people who pretend to be something they’re not.” - Hillary Clinton

I don't get it either. We told Hosni Mubarak to step down even though he was one of our strongest Arab allies, but we stood by silently when Iran's people were protesting their US-hating leadership.

I think nations choose allies from a pragmatic standpoint, people with whom their goals align. Mubarak was never a lovable guy, but at least Egypt was not destabilizing the region or being run by radical Islamists. We can't run domestic policy in every country, but as the worlds only superpower we can insist at times that countries play nice with each other on the international stage.

Perhaps our foreign policy has moved from pragmatism to idealistic naïveté. Would it shock anyone to see that from this administration? An amateurish approach from a professor's lectern rather than a basis in reality...?

I wonder about the battles secretary clinton, who seems to 'get it', must be having with the white house. Especially if Bill is making the comments he is.